The invention relates generally to inspection systems and more specifically to an inspection planning tool for a radiographic inspection system.
Radiographic inspection of industrial parts is desirable. However, composite parts comprising multiple materials present certain challenges for radiographic inspection. Conventionally, in radiographic inspection systems, a beam of high-energy radiation, such as X-rays, is transmitted through a test object to be inspected, and a corresponding image of the test object is formed using various image processing techniques. A flaw, defect or structural inhomogeneity in the test object is detected by examining the image generated.
For accurate examination of the generated image, it is often required to generate the image with a desired gray level. To obtain the desired gray level in the image, the radiation source needs to be initialized with suitable exposure parameters. In existing radiographic inspection systems, the desired exposure parameters are obtained after performing several trial experiments.
One problem with using the trial and error method is the corresponding increase in time required to obtain accurate parameters. Also, to inspect composite parts with multiple regions having different material properties, it would be desirable to inspect the different regions in a short period of time and with the minimum number of exposures (or shots). Since the exposure parameters may be different for the different regions, the increased time for accurately determining the exposure parameters leads to loss in productivity.
In addition, many inspection systems have various types of radiation sources that are adapted for inspecting specific types of objects. Using a trial and error method to calculate the exposure parameters for each type of source and for the different regions within a composite article could be a cumbersome task.
Therefore, it is desirable to implement a technique that is capable of automatically determining exposure parameters for various radiation sources based on the object being inspected. Further, it would be desirable for the technique to be capable of automatically determining the exposure parameters for a composite article having multiple regions with different material properties.